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Eye of the Wolf
It is a world of magic. In the wilds, magic has spawned many fantastic creatures, from brutish trolls to majestic dragons. In the cities, humanity has bent mystical power to its own ends. Ships sail across the skies, messages are carried on the wind, and wizards breathe life into stone and steel. Magic is used for transportation, communication, for healing -- and for war. A century ago, the Kingdom of Galifar was torn apart by civil war. Five nations emerged in the conflict: Cyre, Karrnath, Breland, Thrane, and Aundair. The war continued for nearly a century, until a mystical cataclysm utterly destroyed the nation of Cyre. The cause of this devastation remains a mystery, and in the wake of this disaster an uneasy peace has taken hold. But few believe it will last. This is the world of Greykell ir'Ryc. She is a soldier without a nation, one of the few survivors of Cyre. She is a refugee, a woman without a home or a purpose. Or so she believes. Notable Characters * Greykell ir'Ryc, a one-eyed female human captain in the Cyran army. After Cyre's destruction she became one of the thousands of Cyran refugees in Sharn. * Mace, a warforged artificer and front-line fighter in the employ of the Cyran army, and the backbone of Greykell's squad. * Suradin, a Karrnathi captain, a vampire follower of the Blood of Vol, and enemy of Greykell * The Daughters of Sora Kell (Sora Maenya, Sora Teraza, and Sora Katra), the enigmatic and deadly rulers of Droaam. Plot Synopsis Olarune 19, 998 YK. The story opens in the lower levels of Sharn, where a man named Dolan, a former lieutenant in the Cyran army, discovers a fellow survivor: the one-eyed Captain Greykell ir'Ryc. Lt. Dolan had been at the Siege of Brantun during the Day of Mourning. Dolan asks Greykell how she survived. Greykell brings us back to 994 YK, where she and an elite squad of seven other Cyrans are sent into Droaam hunting a Karrnathi squad. The Karrns are after something in an old Dhakaani ruin. While the squad gets the jump on the Karrns, they overwhelm them with their numbers, killing all the Cyrans, including Meragh, Greykell's dwarven second-in command. Only Greykell and a warforged named Mace survived. However, the Karrns are soon surrounded by an army of gnoll soldiers of Droaam, led by a medusa. They kill most of the Karrnathi soldiers, and bring the survivors of both squads back to the Great Crag. Once there, the soldiers bring the two remaining Cyrans and the four remaining Karrnathi (including their commander, Suradin) to meet the Daughters of Sora Kell. The Daughters reveal that the Karrns are after an ancient Kech Nasaar artifact: Kur Lheshat Nasaar, The Key to the Kingdom of Night. The Daughters mysteriously say that the Key is destined to leave Droaam, but they have hidden it within the catacombs below the Great Crag. They send the two teams of survivors below to find it. Sora Maenya cryptically remarks "find your prize in the eye of the wolf." Greykell and Mace find their way through the catacombs, with Mace using his artificer skills to find traps. The catacombs are lined with statues, which the Cyrans find to be the work of a cocatrice. They Cyrans use the cocatrice and kill two of the Karrnathi. However, Suradin reveals himself to be a vampire, and severely damages Mace. While Mace and Suradin face off, Greykell finds the Key as an eye of a wolf statue. She takes the key, then tricks Suradin into killing himself in one of the ruins' traps. The key explodes in mystical energy, rendering Greykell unconscious. When she awakes, she finds both herself and Mace in the care of the Daughters of Sora Kell. She reaches for her eyepatch, asking what the Daughters have done, and the hags respond cryptically, quoting various fortunes. They promise Greykell and Mace save escort back to Cyre, but the two find Cyre no more. Back in the present, as Greykell brings Lt. Dolan back to her shack, Dolan attacks her. Dolan reveals himself to be a Karrnathi worshiper of the Blood of Vol. Greykell is prepared, though, knowing that there were no living survivors at the Siege of Brantun. He reveals that the Karrns have found her hiding, and are still after the Key, Greykell rips off her eye patch, to reveal the Key to have replaced her eye. Its energies disintegrate Dolan, and Greykell realizes that she cannot continue to run from the Karrns; she must face them head-on. Republication Eberron: Eye of the Wolf was republished in a collected trade paperback: The Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons, Volume 1. Category:Comic Books Category:Works by Keith Baker